“The Un-Ashamed Worker”
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Welcome Everyone:
Announcements:
Prayer:
Reading of the Text:
14 Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 16 But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, 17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. 19 But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”
We have already looked at the illustrations of a soldier, athlete and farmer at the beginning of chapter 2, and now Paul shares some more illustrations to help us understand the nature of ministry. In fact, there are 3 specific parts of ministry and teaching that Paul brings to the forefront. Tonight we will just look at this first part.
-The Un-Ashamed Worker. (14-19)
-The Clean Vessel. (20-22)
-And the Lord’s Servant. (23-26)
The point here that Paul is trying to help us see is a reminder. The reminder is for Timothy and others to be able to teach in a right manner that can help with the confusion of the false teaching so that people will know the truth from that of the lies and the deceivement of the evil one.
Verse 14 = As we come to verse 14 notice that Paul says to remind them of these things. What does Paul have in mind here when he mentions these things??? As faithful teachers, our job is to teach and preach sound doctrine. We don’t need to push our political agenda across or stress our personal opinions or even culturally relevant issues to be the main idea on Sunday’s or other times. We are tasked with preaching the Word of God day in and day out. We are tasked with explaining the gospel in a way that people can clearly understand what Christ has done.
Paul also takes time here to address the fact that we are not to quarrel about words which is useless or not good. What does this mean? Paul was not talking about getting hung up on secondary issues even though that can be disruptive at times. However the phrase that Paul uses here carries the idea of getting into a battle of words. The false teachers were always know as learning but never able to come to a knowledge of truth.
7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.
These false teachers were learning but they were deceivers because they were using their human wisdom and reason to undermine God’s Word. My point is that believers should not get into a battle or debate with them. There are so many people today who are unbelievers and they do not see that God’s Word is the only true standard that matters in this life and so they do not put any credit or viability into God’s Word. As believers we need to be aware of this and realize that no matter how good their speech is, it is only human wisdom and not God’s divine Word.
There are so many ungodly ideas and philosophies in our world today that are threatening the evangelical church. From homosexuality, to abortion, transgenderism, theistic evolution, feminism or many other human philosophies.
As Christians when we don’t know God’s Word and don’t hear sound preaching, then we can become easy prey that sounds Christian and godly but is far from it and goes against biblical truth.
People who don’t know the truth of God’s word are often looking for quarrels and silly arguments over words and so Timothy here is told to avoid such practice because it is not profitable and can bring ruin or destruction to those who are hearing this type of talk.
We too need to watch out and be on the alert for conversations and talk that can lead into quarrels.
We now come to the main focus of our text tonight.
“The Un-Ashamed Workman”
“The Un-Ashamed Workman”
There are two different types of workman or types of teachers. There are the wise workman and then there are the wicked workman. The good and wise workman is devoted to the Word of truth. This workman has been approved and is not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. In contrast the wicked workman is not devoted to the truth of God’s Word.
The point here is that Paul desires Timothy to stand as a model to his church and others as an un-ashamed workman. He is the follow Paul’s instruction who he himself handled the Word of God correctly and was approved by God. Let me start with the first workman that we see mentioned in verses 15-16.
1. The wise or good workman.
1. The wise or good workman.
15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 16 But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness,
Paul helps us to see several main principles or traits about a wise workman.
1. First of all, we see in verse 15 that a wise workman is a worker. They work hard and get the job done. This illustration here is a lot like that of the farmer back in verse 6. This shows us that often times ministry requires spiritual sweat. Paul and timothy were both known as laborers for Christ. There is no room for spiritual laziness or i have put my time in and need a break. Men, we don’t just come together on the Lord’s day and think that this just somehow happens. There is hard work, practice, time away from family for those who are singing, teaching and speaking. In order for you to be successful in this life there must be much diligence and hard work. The same is true when it comes to the pulpit. There must be must diligence in study and prayer.
It is hard work to rightly understand the teaching of God’s Word and then to go out and share it or teach it in a way that is clear and understandable to the hearers. Teaching and preaching are also hard work because there are many times where what you have to say will not be liked or recieved well. The word of God is life and death to some.
15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.
Another reason why ministry is hard work is because we don’t always see results, not that this is the reason for ministering but often times ministry can be discouraging wondering if any one is truly hearing what God has laid on your heart to share with them.
2. Second, a wise workman is focused on God. A godly worker thinks about how he should please the Lord and presents himself to God. This means that he or she must live for the approval of God and not people. A faithful teacher must keep eternity in view knowing that when this life is over we will stand before the Lord. Wise workman desire to be un-ashamed before God as they rightly teach others.
3. Another trait that we see about wise workman is that they are careful and accurate in their teaching. The ESV here says rightly handling the word of truth. Teaching correct doctrine from the Word of God. The wording here means “cut straight.” Our teaching in every way and manner should align with Scripture and the historic Christian faith.
A surgeon makes an incision and cut’s straight in order to help their patient out. Timothy is to keep his church and hearers on the way of truth but cutting out a straight path on which they can follow Christ.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
The main point here is that Timothy must teach the Word carefully and clearly to help the hearers stay on a godly path. The same is true for us today men. We need to stay on track for the Lord. There is plenty of crooked Bible teaching happening in our country today. We need accurate Bible handlers today who can teach the full counsel of God’s Word including the difficult matters. False teaching only leads people down a dead end path and this path leads to hell.
I briefly want to touch on verse 16 and I wish I had more time here but Timothy as we mentioned earlier is to watch out for and even avoid the temptation to be drawn into irreverent babble. This type of behavior could damage his hearers. Paul and Timothy had a goal and desire to live for the Lord and teach correctly His very words and nothing else May we too be known as faithful teachers and men of God like Paul and Timothy. I now want to draw your attention to the other area that Paul mentions here.
2. The Wicked Workman.
2. The Wicked Workman.
17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. 19 But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”
The word picture that Paul lays out for us here about a wicked workman comes from that of archery. Bad teachers miss the mark. They miss the mark because they have a high view on man and a low view on God and His Word. Paul does not hold back here and is not afraid to call several men out that have missed the mark. Hymenaeus and Philetus were among the men who had swerved or deviated from the truth. These men that Paul called out swerved from one specific truth and that was the resurrection. They taught that the resurrection had already taken place. Look at verse 18. Paul and Timothy of course believed that Jesus had risen from the dead , and those who are true believers have been raised up with Christ. However the resurrection of believers bodies, along with the glory of the new heavens and new earth is still a future thing to come.
The problem here was that these two men, these false teachers were leading others down a crooked path that denied a future bodily resurrection. This is where Gnosticism creeps in. In fact, Gnostics teach that they body is basically evil, and therefore a bodily resurrection was unnecessary. For those who held to Gnosticism their hope was found in actually losing their mortal bodies. Paul tells us that this type of teaching and that these men had missed the mark. The resurrection of Christ and of believers is foundational to our faith. If you don’t believe me read 1 Corinthians chapter 15. This is the magnum opus on the resurrection.
Notice the result or consequence of such heretical teaching in verse 18. Paul says that false teachers like Hymenaeus and Philetus were upsetting the faith of some. Men the result of such awful teaching is deadly. Why??? Because it leads people away from God. It can spread through the church with drastic effects. The illustration that Paul uses here is actually very graphic and crude, but it helps us to see the severity of the problem. Paul says that false teaching will spread like gangrene. Gangrene is the decay of tissue in the part of the body where the blood supply is blocked due to an injury or disease. The decay spreads progressively throughout the body bringing loss and potential death. And so does false teaching.
We live in a day and age of tolerance and relativism. I here many people say truth is whatever you want it to be. We tolerate more and more sinful behavior because we have gotten away from the only moral standard that matters and that is the very Word of God. There is right and wrong. There is truth and you can find that in God’s Word.
So, what is the application for us tonight? What should we do as believers in light of all the false teaching and false teachers that we see today??? Stay grounded in God’s Word. Mediate on the word of God. Seek the Lord in Prayer. And then look at what Paul reminds us of in verse 19.
The firm foundation that stands refers to the church.
15 if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.
18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
We don’t have to worry because God is with his bride the church and God is sovereign and in control. The Lord knows those who are his. God know the hearts of his people. He knows who his people truly are. As destructive as false teaching is, it will never destroy the church because even the gates of hell cannot win against the bride of Christ. The truth of God’s sovereignty and the testimony of his saints help us to see how important it is to be and Un-Ashamed Worker for God.
(Pray and Close)